The Democratic Resolution Against Discrimination: What It Really Says About Anti-Semitism

The Democratic Resolution Against Discrimination: What It Really Says About Anti-Semitism

The past week has seen the Democrats divided over a comment from freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar. After Omar made a comment condemning support for Israel, many picked up on anti-Semitic tropes in her words and previous tweets.

But rather than responding to Omar’s comments, or taking any kind of action of against her, the Democrats instead released a broad resolution against discrimination.

Here’s everything you need to know about Omar’s comments, and the responses that ensued.

Who is Ilhan Omar?

Born in Somalia, Omar spent her childhood fleeing the Somalian Civil War, before moving from a refugee camp to the United States in 1995.

Despite her difficult past, after arriving in the US as a 12-year-old refugee, Omar found success working in education. She then became more involved in politics, managing campaigns and eventually becoming the Representative for Minnesota’s 5th District earlier this year.

Omar has always displayed unapologetic support for Palestine, despite both Democrats and Republicans publicly supporting Israel. Her controversial comment brought to light her previous comments on Israel, with many pointing out the anti-Semitic tropes in her tweets.

The petition gained traction after President Trump himself tweeted about it. But still, Omar remains on the Committee (although the petition has almost reached its target of 300,000 signatures), and the Democrats have come up with a way around taking action against Omar.

Rather than tackling Omar’s comments head-on, the Democrats decided to pass a resolution in response to accusations of anti-Semitism.

The resolution began as a response to Omar’s comments, and so at first it mainly focused on emphasising that anti-Semitism was unacceptable. But after points were raised about the prejudice Omar has experienced as a Muslim woman, the resolution grew to include all forms of discrimination, prejudice and bigotry.

Republican resistance to the resolution

Whilst the House agreed that ‘hateful expressions of intolerance’ were not acceptable in any form, 23 Republicans voted against the resolution.

Andy Biggs, Representative for Arizona, was amongst those who voted no. He stated that ‘we’re here today because a member of this body issued a series of anti-Semitic statements’, pointing out the fact that the resolution didn’t directly address Omar’s comments.

Many were distracted by the Democrat’s resolution, but these 23 bold Republicans brought the matter at hand back into the limelight. The resolution was broad and unspecific, and didn’t include any form of consequence for Omar’s words.

Conclusion

Omar is of course within her right to support Palestine or Israel – whichever she chooses. But when comments start to incur anti-Semitic tropes, those words become offensive to Jewish people in America, and all over the world.

The Democrat’s resolution is a clear-cut attempt to cover up Omar’s offensive words. Rather than condemning hateful attitudes, it actually (ironically) enables anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party. And by doing so, anti-Semitism is dismissed as an issue less serious than other forms of discrimination.